


free fall

by Xephonia



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9527750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xephonia/pseuds/Xephonia
Summary: A shinigami meets one who seeks death.





	

"Kamishiro."

"Hm?"

"You're not human, are you?"

It's part of the job to stay calm, so when Shingetsu calls him out like that, Nasch just turns around. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Shingetsu smirks, hands in his pockets.

Now there's two options here. 

Either Shingetsu is building up a bad joke at his expense—

_Or there's work for me._

Nasch shrugs, unwilling to reply to Shingetsu's vague words.

"Your wings," Shingetsu adds now, walking up to Nasch to touch them.

Nasch instinctively takes a step back. Humans who can see them can usually also touch them, and it's not the most comfortable thing to happen when the person doing the touching is Shingetsu. 

(Nasch doesn't quite like him. But this spot at the school's roof is his favourite, and also Shingetsu's favourite, so there's not much of a choice.)

"So?" Shingetsu's smirk doesn't disappear. "What are you?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Shingetsu tilts his head. "Huh?"

"Look, the only people capable of seeing those wings are people who are about to die or very likely to die soon. But nothing indicates you're gonna die." Nasch crosses his arms, the wings shielding him from the wind on this rooftop.

"Ah, so that's what it was." Shingetsu starts laughing. 

It sounds—

_Wrong._

It takes a solid minute until Shingetsu gets out normal words again. "Should've known. You... you're a shinigami, aren't you?"

Nasch nods. "So, mind explaining? It'd make my job easier."

"Wouldn't that be too easy?" 

"Not quite." Nasch looks at the bags under Shingetsu's eyes, the pale skin, the way he's been getting even slimmer than usual lately; the way he won't bother putting on that necklace anymore. Nasch has a suspicion. "Just tell me already, bastard."

"I'll tell you if you do me a favor."

Nasch wants to say, no, why the hell would I, but this is his job and he's not in the mood for a scolding from Don Thousand, so, "What."

"Let's fly! And then I have some questions."

"Fly?"

"Fly."

"You want me to carry you?" Nasch raises an eyebrow.

As far as he knows, Shingetsu hates his guts, so this is. Unusual.

"Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?" Shingetsu's smirk widens.

"Tch."

* * *

 

So they fly.

There's always issues with flying in broad daylight, so that's why it's just Nasch and Shingetsu and the night sky, and in any other situation this would be romantic (and in fact, it once has been, long ago, with someone else), but this  
way it's just obnoxious.

Shingetsu pulls Nasch's hair when he wants to fly higher, and Nasch honestly regrets agreeing to carrying a middle schooler bridal style while flying.

For that matter, there's the risk of accidentally dropping him.

(Shinigami mustn't interfere with the natural order of life and death.)

"So. How do people become a shinigami? Is it like, another world? Or do you have to kill someone to become one?"

Nasch bites his lip. "I can't tell you."

(Mainly because Nasch doesn't want Shingetsu as his coworker. Then again, the most logical explanation for Shingetsu being able to see Nasch's wings points to precisely that happening soon.)

"Then I can't tell you why I can see your wings."

That shit-eating grin has to stop.

Nasch can clearly see the moon where they are right now, and usually that'd be calming; but with Shingetsu around it's just plain unsettling. "I—"

"Just kidding. I already researched. You committed suicide following the death of your sister, ten years ago. Relatable, if I might say so."

Nasch's eyes widen. "Don't bring that up."

"Those who take their own lives become shinigami, huh? Pretty cruel though, isn't it?" Shingetsu laughs. "Forcing people who went so far as to kill themselves to live on anyway, live with their regrets and everything. The underworld  
sounds pretty shitty, no wonder you're such an asshole. Did you cry?"

"—We're the most likely to accept death. Besides, what do you even know?!"

"More than enough. Anyway, it's time to tell you why I can see your wings." Shingetsu abruptly pushes Nasch away from him, and then he falls—

Nasch sees him smirking, mouthing the word 'thanks',

—and Nasch dives after him, it's an instinct, one so absurdly _human_ that after ten years of doing this, he shouldn't even have it anymore, but he does, and he has to retreat into a building to resist breaking the rules.

(He doesn't hear or see the impact, but he knows there is one.)

Nasch gulps.

_That part of the job is always the worst._


End file.
